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| Perceptions of an Activist Scholar on Kashmir | | |
Avinash Kolhe
Kashmir has been in and out of the news. Last month, thanks to the issue of Amarnath shrine land transfer, the state was back on the front pages. The situation there is so fluid that one never knows what can create communal tension leasing to riots. It has become highly unpredictable. Hence it is equally necessary to understand the background of the K factor. Balraj Puri, a senior Jammu-journo has come out with highly readable and informative book, Kashmir: Insurgency and After. This small book is part of the series Tracts for the Times launched some years ago by Orient Longman.
This edition has preface of the general editor of the series Neeladri Bhattacharya. The editor rightly talks about the need to recognize the legitimacy or regional identities and how the failure of which leads to alienation and anger. Puris book has this as the central theme. Puri shows in the introduction that contrary to the popular perception, Jammu was never a Hindu majority region. Before 1947, it had a Muslim majority and was the most populous region of the state. (p2). No wonder the study of K factor it full of complexity demanding out-most objectiity. Puri begins his narrative from the issue of accession of J&K to India. He notes the Hindu Maharaja of the state was reluctant to opt for India. While Muslim League and Pakistan government recognized the right of the ruler of decide the issue of accession, Congress leaders including Gandhi and Indian government maintained that this right belonged to the people of the princely states. That won over overwhelming majority of Kashmiri Muslims for India who reristed tribal raid on Kashmir till the arrival of the Indian army in 1947.
In October 1947 a war broke out on Kashmir. Since India-Pakistan could not settle issue amicably, India decided to approach UN. Here Puri discusses the background of how the issue reached the UN. He notes, it is intriguing that, instead of lodging its complaint under Chapter VII of the UN charter which deals with acts of aggression, India invoked Chapter VI under which parties to the dispute seek pacific settlement of disputes by negotiations, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judical settlement or other peaceful means of their own choice (p 17). Coming from a senior scholar like Puri this comment is quite surprising. By now it is fairly settled that it was Mountbatten who forced Nehru to take the Kashmir problem to UN. The cease-fire ordered Jammu had larger population and area than Kashmir. After the cease-fore cut this into two, Jammu had still larger area but less population than the Kashmir valley. It created tension between Jammu-based leadership and Kashmir-based leadership. (p 28). Since then there has demands for regional autonomy within the state. Puri himself has been an active supporter of equitable sharing of political power by the three units of the state: Jammu, Kashmir valley and Ladakh. His idea was accepted by Nehru and Abdullah who announced at a joint press conference on 24 July 1952 that the constitution of the state when framed would provide for regional autonomy. The Amarnath land transfer issue and communal polarization between Jammu and Kashmir need to be seen in this context.
Puri shows how the peculiar nature of the state did not allow the true democracy to flourish. The state began to chant, one leader (Abdullah), one-party (National Conference) and one-Programme (party manifesto called New Kashmir). This turned Kashmir into a monolithic society led by an authoritarian leader who did not totlerate the slightest dissent. (p 47). Similarly the peculiar nature of Kashmir problem forced Indian scholars not to question the impartiality of elctions held in Kashmir. Puri rightly notes that it is by now universally recognized that the elections in the state were usually manipulated.. it was therefore considered less than partriotic to challenge the fairness of the elections. It means peoples wishes were never truly reflected through the ballot boxes. Are we not paying a heavy price of this now? The assembly elections held in March 1987 were the last straw. Puri comments, Pakistanss independence day on 14 August 1988 was celebrated and a bandh was organized and black flags were raised on Indias independenceand a condolence demonstration was held on the death of the Pakistan president, Ziz-ul-Haq on 17 August. (P60). By then alienation was total and insurgency had begun. Counter productive repression and the Pandit migration followed. (p 70).
This background is quite important than the latest situation, which is too well known. Puri has marshaled all the data to paint an objective picture. There have been human rights violations; a regime of terror was let loose. Puri shows that, many inquiry reports were never made public on the plea that they would demoralize the security forces, (p 82). Fortunately there have been independent bodies like Amnesty International and Asia Watch, the America-based human rights organization which took Indian security forces as well as the militants to task.
In the penultimate chapter Puri has discussed how the militancy is declining. The bus journey to Lahore in 1999, the Agra summit of 2001, Pakistans declaration of ceasefire on LOC in November 2003, etc. are important events in this context. Puri notes that, an indication of improvement in the overall atmosphere, was however, available when the Pandits celebrated Dussehra in October 2007 after two decades (p 110). As noted Puri is not only a scholar but an activist too. He wants to problem to be resolved peacefully for which he has some alternatives. He believes in multiculturealism, equal rights for the followers of all faiths individual freedom and respect for dissent. He has been an integral part of the struggle for better Kashmir. He has worked with Sheikh Abdullah, Pandit Nehru. He was the head of the Regional Autonomy Committee, 1999. Hence this tract becomes unique in the sense that it has been penned by a senior activist-scholar, a rare breed.
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